Team Guides – Group L: England and Croatia hold the edge in competitive Group L

Enter your email below and we'll send you a one-time pin to log in.

England arrive desperate to end a 60-year wait for a second title, but a blockbuster rematch against 2018 semifinal victors Croatia awaits in Group L.

CroatiaThe planQualifiers were easy for the Vatreni – the Blazers – as Czechia, far from their glory days, provided the only serious challenge in the group and were the only opponents to snatch at least a draw. So Zlatko Dalić used some of those games to experiment and deepen his pool of players. But when, last November, Croatia defeated the Faroe Islands to secure first place with one round to go, the manager said: “I will never try to play with three at the back again.”

Fast forward to March before the friendlies with Colombia (2-1) and Brazil (1-3): he changed his mind, trying the formation in both matches with mixed success.

However, this is likely to remain only a Plan B for the World Cup. Croatia rely on Joško Gvardiol and Mateo Kovačić and, with the Manchester City duo back from injury, Dalić is inclined to switch back to a back four – either 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 – which has been a constant during his nine-year reign.

Croatia will be among the oldest teams at the tournament, with roughly half or more of their starters into their thirties and the captain, Luka Modrić, now 40. That means loads of experience and a winning mentality, but also raises some uneasy questions.

Can the old guard of Modrić, Kovačić (32), Ivan Perišić (37) and Andrej Kramarić (35) still cut it? Are the younger, lesser-known players ready to step up? Croatia have been used to punching above their weight and their success at the past two World Cups has set the bar impossibly high, but they seem determined to deliver one last hurrah.

Keeping his post for almost a decade now is quite an achievement in trigger-happy Croatia, but Zlatko Dalić has done more than enough to earn his credit and is practically untouchable. However, mention his contract ends with this World Cup and he will prove sensitive about the subject. “Leave me in peace to do my job,” he snapped when asked about it recently. “I’m not going to sign an extension if anyone is forcing me to decide now.”

It’s been 20 years since his full international debut and for most of that time Croatia have been Luka Modrić’s team, built around the midfield maestro. It still is, even though a generation or two of players in his supporting cast have come and gone. Clearly he is not the same player who won the Ballon d’Or and Champions League titles with Real Madrid, but that is sometimes hard to tell when he is st